Sutra 1.1.4 - tat tu samanvayāt - Lord Viṣṇu is the sole topic discussed in the Vedas

This verse emphasizes that the scriptures led to a logical conclusion and that such a conclusion is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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Sutra 1.1.4 - tat tu samanvayāt

» tat tu samanvayāt «

tat: this; tu: but, on the contrary; samanvayat: because of the agreement of all the Vedic scriptures.

[The goal of the Vedas is not fruitive activities. On the contrary, Lord Viṣṇu is the sole topic discussed.] This is the agreement of all Vedic scriptures.

Commentary: The Vedas are a very extensive body of literature, which includes books that speak about different topics and give different conclusions, which appear contradictory to the layman. This verse, however, emphasizes that the scriptures led to a logical conclusion and that such a conclusion is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In his Tattva Sandarbha, Srila Jīva Goswami carefully analyzes the different books that compose the Vedic literature and concludes that most of the books that compose the Vedas are too extensive and indirect to be understood by common men. He points to the Puranas as the way to understand the Vedas and concludes that the Srimad Bhagavatam is the ultimate conclusion of the Puranas. The Vedanta-sutra is a relatively short treatise directed to inquisitive persons, which is more thoroughly explained through the 18,000 verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The Srimad Bhagavatam, in turn, is properly understood through the process of disciplic succession. This unbroken chain brings us the proper conclusions of the verses, going all the way up to Srila Vyāsadeva, the author himself.

In this way, this 4th sutra indicates that the sastras lead to a single conclusion: devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everything else merely serves this purpose. However, to reach such a conclusion, one has to study the sastras through the proper process, receiving the proper conclusions from a spiritual teacher who is part of the proper disciplic succession, since, as already defined, the Lord can't be understood through our limited imagination.

This idea that the sastras ultimately lead to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that the Lord is glorified in all scriptures, is confirmed in many passages:

yo 'su sarvair vedair giyate

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is glorified by all the Vedas." (Gopala-tapani Upanisad)

sarve veda yat-padam amananti

"All the Vedas glorify the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (Katha Upanisad 1.2.15)

In this way, the conclusion is that Lord Viṣnu is the subject described in all the Vedas.

However, one could disagree, arguing that the Vedas mainly describe fruitive karma-kanda sacrifices, such as the kariri-yajña for bringing rain, the putra-kāmyeṣṭi-yajña for getting a son, the jyotiṣṭoma-yajña for going to the heavenly planets, etc. In this way, one could argue that it is not possible to say that Lord Viṣṇu is the only topic discussed in the Vedas.

To this, Vyāsadeva answers: tat tu samanvayāt. The goal of the Vedas is not fruitive activities. On the contrary, Lord Viṣṇu is the sole topic discussed in the Vedas. This is the agreement of all Vedic scriptures.

The word "tu" in Sanskrit means "but" or "on the contrary". However, it sounds stronger than the English word; it denotes a change of category in the sentence, indicating that a strong point is being made. For example, in Srimad Bhagavatam, we find the verse "ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam." A list of 22 incarnations of the Lord is given. The word "ete" means all these incarnations mentioned in the list, and the word "ca" (and) adds all the many other incarnations that were not mentioned. Some of these incarnations are plenary portions "aṁśa", and others are portions of the plenary portions "kalāḥ", and they all come from Lord Ksirodakasayi Viṣṇu. The word "tu" on the second line, however, marks a turn. There are many incarnations, but Krsna is different from the others. He is bhagavān svayam, the original, Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Similarly, it may appear that the Vedas discuss many different topics, but in reality, everything mentioned in the Vedas orbits around Lord Viṣṇu and devotional service to Him. Everything directly or indirectly describes the Lord or offers a path for understanding Him. In this way, Lord Viṣṇu is the only topic discussed in the Vedas. The Vedas speak about a personal God and loving service unto Him. Other topics discussed have the sole purpose of elevating the reader to this understanding. Vyāsadeva makes this point very strongly by using the word "tu", destroying all doubt.

The word samanvayat indicates that the scriptures themselves bring us to this conclusion. Samanvayat includes two other words: anvaya means "understanding the real meaning" and samanvaya means "perfect understanding after careful deliberation".

When we apply the rules for the interpretation of the scriptures discussed in the 2nd sutra (upakrama, upasamhara, abhyasa, etc.) to the texts of the Vedas, we come to the conclusion that Lord Viṣṇu is the only topic of discussion of the Vedas, as indicated in this sutra.

Apart from being the logical conclusion of the texts, this is directly stated in many passages. The Gopala-Tapani Upanisad states that Lord Viṣnu is glorified by all the Vedas, and the Lord Himself confirms this in the Bhagavad-gītā:

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo, vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

"I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas." (Bg 15.15)

This is also mentioned in the Uddhava-Gita, in the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam:

kiṁ vidhatte kim ācaṣṭe, kim anūdya vikalpayet

ity asyā hṛdayaṁ loke, nānyo mad veda kaścana

māṁ vidhatte ’bhidhatte māṁ, vikalpyāpohyate tv aham

etāvān sarva-vedārthaḥ, śabda āsthāya māṁ bhidām

māyā-mātram anūdyānte, pratiṣidhya prasīdati

"In the entire world no one but Me actually understands the confidential purpose of Vedic knowledge. Thus people do not know what the Vedas are actually prescribing in the ritualistic injunctions of karma-kāṇḍa, or what object is actually being indicated in the formulas of worship found in the upāsanā-kāṇḍa, or that which is elaborately discussed through various hypotheses in the jñāna-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas. I am the ritualistic sacrifice enjoined by the Vedas, and I am the worshipable Deity. It is I who am presented as various philosophical hypotheses, and it is I alone who am then refuted by philosophical analysis. The transcendental sound vibration thus establishes Me as the essential meaning of all Vedic knowledge. The Vedas, elaborately analyzing all material duality as nothing but My illusory potency, ultimately completely negate this duality and achieve their own satisfaction." (SB 11.21.42-43)

The jñāna-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas directly describes the transcendental forms and qualities of the Lord, while the karma-kanda section describes the Lord indirectly when discussing fruitive actions and different divisions of material knowledge. However, at the end of the day, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the sole topic of discussion in the Vedas.

This is directly confirmed in other passages:

sākṣāt-paramparābhyāṁ vedaḥ brahmaṇi pravartate

"Both through direct revelation and through the disciplic succession, the Vedas describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

tam tv aupaniṣadaṁ puruṣaṁ pṛcchāmi

"I inquire about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is described in the Upanisads."

tam etaṁ vedānvacanenā brāhmaṇā vividiṣanti

"Brahmanas study the Vedas to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad 4.4.22)

Srila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa makes the point that the different fruitive results promised as results of the different rituals described in the karma-kanda section, such as the attainment of a son or promotion to the celestial planets, are offered just to attract the minds of common men to the path of the Vedas. When ordinary persons see that it is possible to attain these different material results by following the instructions given in the Vedas, they become attracted to study the scriptures, and by this study, they come to understand the difference between temporary and eternal. As this knowledge deepens, they eventually come to the point of becoming averse to the material reality and start hankering after Brahman. In this way, all parts of the Vedas describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead, directly or indirectly.

Another point is that Vedic rituals bring material benefits as a result only when performed by someone with material desires. If the performer is desireless, he instead obtains purification of the heart and the manifestation of transcendental knowledge. Demigods are just different limbs of the universal body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus, when one worships a demigod, he worships the Lord, just indirectly. Although in the short term, this worship may result in temporary material results, the final result is that eventually one becomes pure in heart and awakens to spiritual knowledge.

This is explained by the Lord himself in the Bhagavad-gītā:

yo yo yāṁ yāṁ tanuṁ bhaktaḥ, śraddhayārcitum icchati

tasya tasyācalāṁ śraddhāṁ, tām eva vidadhāmy aham

sa tayā śraddhayā yuktas, tasyārādhanam īhate

labhate ca tataḥ kāmān, mayaiva vihitān hi tān

"I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity. Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone." (Bg 7.21)

ye ’py anya-devatā-bhaktā, yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ

te ’pi mām eva kaunteya, yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam

"Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kuntī, but they do so in a wrong way." (Bg 9.23)

Exercise

Now it's your turn. Can you answer the following arguments using the ideas from this section?

Opponent: Proponents of devotional lineages without a direct connection to Vyāsadeva propose that the Vedas teach only about the Personality of Godhead, or the Supreme Brahman. In reality, however, the Vedas mainly describe various fruitive sacrifices, such as the kariri-yajña for bringing rain, the putra-kāmeṣṭi-yajña for gaining a son, and the jyotiṣṭoma-yajña for going to the celestial planets, Svargaloka. Their proposition that Brahman or Viṣṇu is the only topic discussed in the Vedas is thus purely sentimental, without basis in reality. Maybe that's their desire, but it is certainly not the fact.

In reality, karma is the main topic of the Vedas, and this is reasonable because by understanding this topic, we can attain happiness and prosperity in this life and the next. By studying the Vedas, we learn how to perform pious actions that give us desirable fruits and avoid sinful actions that give us undesirable fruits. Teaching us about this process is the true essence of the Vedas and the primary goal of Vyāsadeva in compiling this literature.

Even if there is a God, he is just the giver of the results of our karma, therefore, there is no special need to inquire about him. Therefore, the proposition that such inquiry is the only topic of the Vedas is completely nonsensical.

How do you answer this challenge?

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